Honors Thesis Projects

Honors Theses

An undergraduate thesis is a traditional mechanism to provide a capstone experience for undergraduates pursuing honors. In many instances, this experience is a opportunity to showcase the knowledge and skills one has acquired in their respective degree program, culminating in a written document, called a thesis.

Honors theses may differ substantially across disciplines but typically in the Bumpers College Honors Program, students complete a research or creative honors thesis. All honors thesis types typically involve developing an introduction, literature review, methodology section or development plan, results or a design process and creative works section, and making conclusions and recommendations. Students are required to develop an honors thesis proposal by taking AFLS 3413H - Honors Proposal Development and Research Methods, a course dedicated to teaching academic and scientific writing. 

Research, creative, and group/team thesis projects all have unique requirements: 

Honors theses which address topics or concerns for local, national, or global communities could qualify for service learning designation! If you believe that your honors thesis qualifies for a service learning designation on your transcript, you can visit the Service Learning Initiative website.

Published Honors Thesis Examples

Forming your Honors Thesis Committee

A student's honors thesis committee must have a minimum of three members consisting of the Honors Thesis Mentor and two additional members. The Honors Departmental Representative is required to sign Form #2 and Form #3 to confirm that the proposal meeting and defense meeting have taken place, but is not required to be an active committee member. 

Students are encouraged to select members for their committee who can provide insight to their honors thesis project and who can be used a resource throughout the research or creative process. Additional committee members can include but are not limited to University appointed teaching faculty, non UARK faculty (including faculty from overseas or from a different University), or a business professional in the students honors projects area of study. 

A student’s honors thesis committee must be determined by the student and their Honors Thesis Mentor before the completion of 90 credit hours. All committee members are required to attend the proposal meeting, review the student's honors thesis proposal, and sign Form #2 - Honors Thesis Proposal Meeting and Committee Selection and indicate their approval or disapproval of the student's honors thesis proposal.

Committee members are also required to attend the defense meeting, review the student’s final honors thesis, and sign Form #3 - Honors Thesis Defense Meeting and Examination and indicate their approval or disapproval of the student's final honors thesis.

Seeking Funding for Honors Thesis Projects

Bumpers College Honors Program students and their Honors Honors Thesis Mentor may apply for research awards to support students' honors thesis project expenses as described in their grant proposal. Potential funding sources include the Bumpers College Undergraduate Research and Creative Project Grants which are awarded in the fall and spring, SURF Research Grants which are awarded during fall semesters, and Honors College Research Grants which are awarded in the fall and spring. Additional types of Honors College Grants exist for study abroad, domestic and international internships, and more.

For more information please visit:

Submitting your Honors Thesis to the UA Library 

All honors students are required to submit a copy of their honors thesis to the UA library to be entered into the catalog of information. These theses are searchable through the library information system and available world wide to anyone using the UA library system.  Students should submit their honors thesis to the library only after it has been approved by their committee and Honors Thesis Mentor, and undergone a formatting review by a Bumpers College Honors Program staff member.

Prior to submitting:

  1. Save your honors thesis as a Word or PDF document (Save as a PDF by using the "save as" function in your word processor and try to avoid scanning your thesis.)  Use CTRL+F to ensure that your PDF is searchable. 
  2. Have your Title, Abstract, Keywords, relevant Disciplines and any additional files ready.
  3. Follow the instructions for submitting your honors thesis electronically. 

Submitting an Article to the Discovery Journal

Undergraduates conducting research in cooperation with a faculty mentor are encouraged to submit a journal article to the Discovery Journal. All submissions must follow Discovery Journal article guidelines. Note:  Unedited honors thesis will not be accepted. Students who have received a Bumpers College Undergraduate Research Grant are expected to submit an article based on their project.

Instructions for submitting your research or creative article to the Discovery Journal